WAVE HEIGHT DISTRIBUTIONS IN SHALLOW WATERS

Stephan Mai, Jens Wilhelmi, Ulrich Barjenbruch

Abstract

In shallow waters the wave height distribution significantly differs from Rayleigh distribution during extreme wind
conditions. The EurOtop manual (Pullen et al. 2007) recommends the use of a composite Rayleigh-Weibull distribution proposed by Battjes and Groenendijk (2000) in order to describe the wave statistics in shallow waters. A test of this recommendation by using wave measurements with continuously operated radar level gauges at three different sites at the German North Sea coast for comparison revealed the necessity for a change in the parameterization given in the EurOtop manual.